Slowly
by Elise the Writing Desk
Summary: It's hard to love again, when the only way it's been; when the only love you know just walked away. That's how Alice feels. Blood is determined to change that, and he tries his best to move slowly, so slow that he can't take it anymore. AU


**Slowly  
**_July 24th 2014  
_by Elise the Writing Desk, Characters by Quinrose

* * *

Papers and ink scattered in the room. Alice huffs, really used to the scenery. She just drops her bag and snatches the designs on the table, taking a seat at the sofa after throwing away the papers on it. Frowning, she scans the designs with a disappointed face.

"You're unusually dull, Blood," she says, and stands up to look at his work desk. There, Blood is snogging a girl that she knows from school. "Oh, that's why," Alice rolls her eyes and approached them.

"Mm, Alice, give us another hour..." Blood whines sleepily while the girl keeps kissing his jaw.

"Felicia, how many rounds have you been on it?" Alice crosses her arms, already used to seeing her best friend having sex with numerous, different women. Felicia turns to look at the clock on the desk. She gasps.

"Bloody! I gotta go—daddy will kill me!" she pecks his cheek one last time before frantically getting off his lap and takes her clothes. "Alice, thanks for warning me, see ya!" she giggles and puts on her clothes while walking out of the workshop.

Blood sighs and curls in his armchair. "Now I feel cold again. Alice is so cold,"

"Blood, knock it off—is this all you got?" Alice huffs, waving his designs in her hand. "You gotta be kidding me! None of this will do," she shakes her head and bends down to take a folder where she usually keeps his designs. "If you're so half-assed, then you should just quit," she says cruelly, crossing her arms.

Blood lazily turns his head to stare her and smiles warmly. "That's getting old," he yawns.

"I see," Alice sighs and drops the folder on his desk. "I guess I'm the only one getting worked up, huh? Look, I can't send it on the last minutes, Blood. You gotta do this on your own,"

Now that's new. He pulls his blanket to cover his waist and raises his eyebrows at her. "What? Where are you going, darling? You're leaving?"

"Yeah," Alice walks away to take her bag. "It's Lorina and Charles' wedding anniversary, so I have to help out this evening," she puts on her gloves. "The party is tomorrow, in case you want to come,"

Blood hums and sits up. "If I come and work on it while you're at it...will you send it for me? I'm too lazy for that," he asks with a smirk. Alice sighs and crosses her arms.

"Fine," she mumbles, and groans when he lifts his arms, aiming at her. "No, Blood, dress yourself! You can't be too lazy for everything—if this keeps up, the next thing happening is you want me to take you on a piggy back!"

"That's a good idea,"

"No!" Alice snatches his clothes that are hanging on the sofa, and throws them to his face across the room. "Get on with it! Lazy bastard..."

~.X.~

Alice hates bringing Blood in her trip, since he's always so handsome even if he hasn't been taking a bath for a week. Additionally, she always get on public transports, and Blood's presence attracts a lot of audience.

"It's Blood Dupre!" some girls exclaims. Soon, the subway is crowded with girls asking for selfie and signatures. Blood serves them generously, enjoying the attention.

"Tomorrow's the last day for the design's submission of the Autumn Modes. Can we have a bit of spoiler?"

"Oh, no, no, beautiful...I'm not to open my mouth except for the press. But I'd kiss you in return,"

The girls love Blood. Either his designs that roam from gentlemen to ladies wear, his charisma, his appearance and smooth lines, everyone loves him. Loved by girls and admired by boys. And he's still just twenty. He's been a famous designer since his debut five years ago.

Blood smirks and glances to his childhood friend, who, as usual, is too ignorant. Alice is the one who helped him to reach all of his glory. Until today, they're inseparable. She's harsher than any critics the world could offer. Her tastes are universal, and other than that, she doesn't judge anything based on her preferences.

"Alice what do you think? Should I give them a taste to relieve their curiosity?" Blood asks, and the girls turn to Alice, squealing.

"Oh my! It's Alice Liddell! Look at her outfit!"

"Today she's wearing a knitted scarf and sleeveless white coat with big buttons...she wears long-sleeves shirt inside and—instead of camel toe, she's wearing red boots, contrasting her overall! Aww, that's so cute..."

"If Alice wears those, then contrasting shoes are in!"

"Alice, why did you pick such contrasting colors?"

Alice and Blood exchanged looks, and she sighs. "I'm going to somewhere snowy, so it's good to be able to see my feet, that's all," she simply explains. "And for the spoiler; Blood hasn't drawn anything good, so forget it,"

That's Alice for you. Blunt and cruel. But that's how a critic should be. Blood smiles gently. He really likes her pratical attitude. It's not that whatever she chooses or do has a meaning, but overall, they're always useful for something. Both of them keep Blood's design to be simple, stylish and fresh.

~.X.~

It's been a while since they visited the Vesalius Mountains. It's always snowing thick there, and Blood is relieved that Alice forces him into a pair of boots. They have to walk a bit until they arrived to his brother's house.

"We're here," Alice announces as she opens the door and waits for Blood to come in. "I'm with Blood,"

Foot stomping on the panel floor comes, and Charles slides out of the side room, surprised. "Blood! I didn't expect you at all, brother," he laughs and approaches them, taking Alice's hands as she kicks off her boots. "What's the muse?"

"He's blocked," Alice deadpans. "He's useless. He's dead. It's over, Charles,"

Blood laughs. "Now, doll face, that's enough. I promise I'll finish it tonight, so stop adding pressure," he ruffles her head and walks past his brother. "Charles, I'm going to use your old room, since I don't want to see weird things on your bedroom floor,"

Charles blushes. "Blood!"

"Huh? Blood, you're the sloth, dumbass," Alice mocks him. "Ignore him, Charl. Where's Lorie?"

Charles takes Alice away to the kitchen, and Blood can hear someone squeals in delight as he takes over Charles' old room. He takes off his coat and pulls the drawer nearby, knowing full-well that Charles always keeps paper anywhere in the house, along with pencil and pen.

He leans to the window, seeing the snow falls, and hears someone opens the door.

"Forgot something,"

A folder smacks him on the face. Alice slams the door close and leaves. Blood chuckles and takes out his designs, which Alice said not enough. True, he's been designing dull stuff. Maybe he's getting bored. Or maybe, it's entirely not true; he's getting impatient.

"You better finish it before six, you asshole!" he looks down from the window to see Alice is yelling at him, and then runs off to the stable. His brother keeps some horses, since it's easier to commute the mountains with them.

Chuckling, Blood decides to watch Alice squirming in cold. Charles asked her to change the saddle and brushes the reins, so that they can travel the mountains tomorrow after the party. He sees Charles pulling out the cart, and together, Alice and Charles begin to clean it up. Lorina comes out bringing hot cinnamon for them.

"Blood, you want some of this too?" Lorina offers from below.

Blood smiles and shakes his head. He's warm enough inside.

"No, don't be so kind to that lazy ass, Lorie," Alice says loudly on purpose.

"Alice, watch your mouth! You used to be such a polite girl,"

Alice stares at her sister. "Oh, sure? You want me to be a good-girl who's actually a jealous demoness because I'm so inferior to you, your majesty?"

Lorina is taken aback, and Blood smirks. Alice keeps up her acting for another tense seconds, before bursting out with laughter and continues to brush the cart. Lorina smiles in relief. She's right, Alice used to be such a goodie-two-shoes...but that was all an act. In all honesty, Lorina is more relieved to see Alice's true personality.

She returns to the house and sees Blood brewing tea. "That was tense," he comments.

Lorina smiles and sits down. "She always gives me a heart-attack," giggling, she sets down the tray and receives a cup of tea from Blood. "I don't want her to suffer. I can't imagine how it feels to love someone you hate...It's better if she can be herself,"

Blood sits across Lorina and sips his tea. The two are silent in the warming bliss of Darjeeling.

"Charles is so dumb," Blood says. "Picking such a boring old hag over a cute kitty,"

"Who are you calling old hag, moron?" Alice smacks him across his head. "You can't call Lorina a boring old hag. She's boring, but not old. Well, older than me, though,"

Lorina laughs. "Oh sure, so I'm still boring. Well, sorry for that,"

Alice smiles apologetically. "Nah, I'm the boring one. Don't worry, Lorie," she shrugs and takes off her coat that's covered by snow. "So? This is your last chance, Blood," she asks him threateningly.

"Yes, yes, it's done," Blood sighs and hands over his latest design.

"You only submit one design?" Charles asks, collecting their coats and put them on the rack.

"No, it's just that, he hasn't finished the autumn dress," Alice says and pulls a seat as she begins to scan Blood's design. Her eyes widen. "A cloak for autumn...mild peach color with white borders and neck...Now this will do so much, Blood!" she grins. "This is so beautiful,"

Blood smirks, satisfied as she excitedly begins to show his design to Lorina. "It looks like yellowing maple, no?" Lorina asks.

"No, it's apple pie, but instead of whipped cream, it's sugar powder," Alice guesses, and Blood claps his hands.

"That's right. I named it Sugar Powder," he grins. "I got inspired when I saw you running in the snow,"

"Yeah? Well, I'm going now to send this," Alice stands up and puts on her coat again. "You don't have to wait for me to dinner," before anyone can say anything, she leaves, closing the door with a soft click. Blood sighs and leans his chin to his hand.

Charles and Lorina exchanges glance. "So...Blood," Charles clears his throat. "How is it?"

Blood drops his head to the table. "It's so slow...I don't know what to do..."

Lorina hums in concern of his brother-in-law. "Well, you won't be going anywhere fast if you still make out with other women in front of her,"

Blood lifts his head up and rolls his eyes. "If I don't do that, I won't be able to hold myself," he stares at the tea leaves on the bottom of his cup. "I will hurt her, freak her out and she'll run away,"

~.X.~

A boat is sailing in a small stream of the Isis River. There's Lorina, Alice, Blood and Charles. Charles is rowing the boat until the stream drives the boat on its own. Alice is feeling sleepy as she looks up to the golden crispy maple trees above the river.

Lorina hums, frequently looking back. "Is it really okay to miss your thirteenth birthday party, Charles?" she asks, worried of getting reprimanded.

"But it's so boring, we can't help it," Alice yawns and begins to lean on her sister's shoulder. "Next year, when I'm eleven, I'm not going to have a ball for my birthday party,"

Blood hums. "Heh...? Then what do you want for birthday party?"

Alice sits up again. "I'm not going to celebrate my birthday," she crosses her arms. "Instead, I'm going to celebrate my unbirthdays, so that I'm only bored on my birthday,"

Charles laughs. "Shouldn't you not be bored on your birthday?"

Blood scoffs. "Heh, look who's bored on his own birthday, rowing a boat," he comments, and the girls laugh. Charles blushes in defeat.

"Well, if I'm not bored on my unbirthdays, then I get bored on my birthday, then I won't feel bored because I haven't been bored for almost a year," Alice says, and everyone falls silent at her logic.

The Liddells and the Dodgson are close neighbors. As the members of important family, their parties are always so boring and drawn out. Dresses, frills, gowns. Alice rather plays her computer, but her parents forces her to visit the Dodgson's party. For the Dodgson, 13 years-old is the age where their son should start studying and take over the family's business. Important people are invited to know Charles, forming a business bond.

"So Charles will be a doctor when you're a big guy?" Alice asks in a different day of Spring. She rolls around on the green grass of her family's field. "Is it going to be fun?"

"Yeah," Charles smiles. "I will help many people to stay alive and healthy, so they can do many great things," he watches Alice rolling on the grass, laughing. "Just imagine the songs Michael Jackson can sing if only there's a great doctor who could cure him,"

Alice crawls to Charles' side. "Hmm...Then, I want to be a nurse to help you!" she grins. "The nurse has to be a kind and motherly person, right? She has to help the doctor, right?"

Charles blushes and ruffles her hair. "Yeah, that's right, Alice. I'd be happy if you can be my nurse,"

Blood watches the exchange from his window. He hums, and then turns away, sitting on his seat. He looks at his table and takes a book that contains his lessons. Lorina enters the room and pauses.

"Oh, Blood, you're studying?" she smiles. "Then, I'll bring the tea later, okay?"

"Yeah," Blood nods, not taking his eyes off his book. He just suddenly wants to study too. Maybe if he's smart enough, then he won't be left behind. It looks fun if he, Alice and Charles can work together in the future. Maybe it won't be boring that way.

~.X.~

Blood slips his tongue into her mouth and his hands roam over her body. He closes his eyes, imagining someone else, deepen his kiss, and his partner moans in delight. There are so many things he has to imagine, in order to be happy. He has to imagine designs, he has to imagine colors...he has to imagine the woman he loves while snogging a completely different person.

"Oh, Blood, you can't make out in your brother's house, let alone his room," he stops, hearing Alice's voice. The girl beneath him heaves for air and begins to kiss his neck. Alice chuckles and collects the folder on the table. "Well, just another hour, then out, okay?"

"Mm," Blood hums as Alice leaves, and he continues.

"Who's that?"

"My assistant," he breathes in her ear. "Stop talking,"

Because when they talk, then he can't imagine anymore. It's not her voice. He can close his eyes and cover his ears, but there's always something that can ruin his imagination. It's the truth.

It's the sad truth that whoever this girl beneath him is not Alice. But he wants to run away from that truth as much as he can. He realizes he's rougher than usual. Blood realizes, he's getting really impatient. Touching other woman doesn't feel so satisfying anymore. He fears that he will snap, and Alice will be angry at him for what he might do.

The girl leaves after an hour, as promised, and Blood is half-asleep, when he feels someone fixes his blanket and strokes his hair gently.

"You've done a good job today, Blood," Alice says gently and leaves, closing his door with a slow click.

Blood's eyes are wide open and he slowly touches where Alice touched him. He sighs, smiling. He feels more fulfilled by such a simple, gentle touch. He can't imagine what he'll feel if it's something more. He wishes that he doesn't have to wait for something that's going on so slowly.

~.X.~

Lorina was an honor student. Alice was expected to be an honor student as well. Thus, she fulfilled that expectation. And yet, everything returned to Lorina again.

"You're just like your sister, Alice," the headmaster said. "We're proud that you can follow her steps as well,"

Follow her steps? Alice realized something, for the first time.

"You're so brilliant playing the piano, Alice. Just like your sister. You're lucky to have Lorina to teach you,"

"I remember Lorina baked this cake—you're as good as she is, Alice,"

"I'm sure you can be as good as Lorina, Alice,"

At first she didn't notice how bad those praises were. Alice realized that she was only a shadow of Lorina. Always following her. Never leading. Never having her own path. Never Alice.

"If you keep up your good work, then I'm sure you can be a great nurse, Alice," Charles says, when they're having a tea. Blood hums. "Blood will be our pharmacist, and the three of us can work together,"

Alice really likes Charles. He never compares her with Lorina. He likes Alice for herself.

"Hmm, but it will be boring," Blood complains. "Alice is so boring. If only she's a bit klutzy, we'd probably have some thrills in our future jobs," he chuckles.

"Thrills is not what being a doctor is about," Alice sharply tells him off. "It's about doing your best so that no one comes to the hospital; so that no one falls ill or gets an accident,"

Blood raises his eyebrows, and Charles looks surprised. Alice realizes that she had just snapped out of her character, and shyly looks down.

"S-Sorry for being so harsh..."

Blood rolls his eyes, getting bored again. He doesn't remember since when did Alice became so boring. When she snapped out to him, he thought Alice returned back to be amusing, but turns out, he was wrong. He begins to think if being a pharmacist, as his father ordered, is a good idea after all. Why does he have to work with these boring people? He wants something else.

He wants excitement.

"Hey, Alice," the two of them turns to Charles, who's fidgeting in his chair. "I'm going to be seventeen soon...and you'll be fifteen next year. I'll be send to college for four year. At that time, I'll be a doctor," he clears his throat. "What if...I mean, will you marry me, then?"

Alice blushes, unsure of what to say. Blood can't even help collecting his composure when he drops his cup. The two turns to him at the sound of the clashing cup. The fifteen years old boy chuckles, and suddenly turns on his heels before running off.

Everything is so fast...Blood wants things to slow down. He doesn't want anything-he doesn't know what he wants. He's just fifteen—Alice is still fourteen, and he can't believe what his brother Charles asked of her. Marriage. Everything is too fast.

"Slow down, slow down, slow down..." Blood mumbles beneath his breath as he locks his door and drops himself on the floor. "Slow down...Slow down..."

Why does he care? Alice is a boring girl, Charles is a boring guy...then it's okay. What bothers him so much? Why does he feel as if everyone is leaving him behind, walking so fast ahead of him?

However, Blood begins to realize, that it's not Charles. The day Charles leaves for college, he feels nothing but relief. Their high school days begin. Even now, it felt really natural to come to the Liddell's backyard and drops his back on the field.

Soon, Alice joins him on his side. "Wow...it feels weird without him,"

"Yeah," Blood agrees, and sits up when noticing that she's drawing something. "What are you doing?"

"Designing," Alice says. "I have this project for this art class...I can't even draw," she sighs and drops her head on her sketchbook.

Blood pulls her sketchbook and looks at her design, before cracking up with laughter. "Heh...this is so ugly,"

"Shut up!" Alice snatches back her book.

Both of them are startled.

Blood smirks. "Hm? Did you just told me to shut up, Miss Goodie Two Shoes?"

Alice scoffs and stands up. "I told you to shut the _fuck_ up," she smacks his head with the sketchbook and leaves.

Blood hums and takes the sketchbook she left on his head. Actually, her choices of colors are good, but she doesn't draw well. He turns his head to where she left. Smirking, he feels somewhat amused to hear her snapping that way. He wonders if that's how she acts when Charles isn't around?

~.X.~

The next morning is hectic. All with the anniversary and Blood having to go to the airport for the autumn design event in France.

"Blood, I got the ticket! You're off at 1 PM, and here's your outfit for the event this evening," Alice says, rushing around the room and drops a set of tux on the bed. Blood groans, remembering that he has to be quick today. "Come on! Stop sleeping, pompous bastard!" she pulls off his blanket, and he whines at the cold air.

"Alice, you pervert...I'm still naked..."

"Yeah, I've seen your dick far too often than any of your girls, so—GET OUT OF THE BED, ASSHOLE!"

With that, Blood lazily gets out of the bed, and Alice pushes him into the shower, saying how lucky it is that he's already naked so that he won't take off more time. She leaves him to his shower and runs down to help Lorina.

"The guests are already here! Is Blood already in the bath?" Lorina asks, looking as if she wants to jump. Alice nods and rushes to take over the kitchen from Lorina.

"Just go get those guests—is this curry mild or spicy?"

"Spicy, I haven't put in the chilly," Lorina says and runs for the door. "Charles, honey, the carpet?"

"Done," Charles says, and lets out a relieved sigh.

Alice serves the curry and continues to cook the pie where Lorina left off. Arms wrapped around her when she's cutting the apples.

"You sure you're not coming?" Blood asks, murmuring to her neck.

"I don't know yet. I'll see what I can do," Alice says, and then stuffs a piece of apple into his mouth. "You better eat something, Blood. And I can't cook if you keep your hands around me,"

Blood sighs and munches his apple while walking to take a seat at the dining. "What is it that you're so busy to do? You can just leave when the party is going,"

"No, I can't. I have a date," Alice says mindlessly and arranges the apples in the batch.

Blood blinks once, and then bites his apple. "Hahaha, nice joke, doll face," he swallows the fruit that slowly begins to feel like pebbles in his throat.

"Well, I just want to have a date once in a while, so yeah," she says, finished preparing the pie and busily puts it in the oven. "I don't want to always take care of you, Blood. I know we're childhood friend and all, but I can't always do this,"

Blood hums, calmly eating his apple. "Hmm, yeah, I guess that's true. I'm just worried that you'll be attacked again, like that time."

Alice's hands stop working at the meat. He continues.

"I thought you wouldn't date anyone at all after that incident," Blood bites the last of his apple and stands up. "But then if you can move on from that, good for you," he walks away. "I'm going to eat out, so I'm leaving now,"

Alice nods. "Yeah, be careful," she says and grips her hands, trying to stop shivering.

~.X.~

It's the homecoming party. Everyone brings their date, except for Alice, and since she's a popular honor student, it's quite surprising to see her coming alone.

"I don't want to do anything weird," Alice smiles. "I already have someone waiting for me," she explains to her friends.

"Heeh, you're so boring, Alice," Blood teases. "Since he's away, relax a bit, pretty face," he laughs and leaves with his date.

Her friends laugh. "Ignore him, Alice. He's just such a playboy. It's good to be the way you are,"

She, for once, isn't acting. She won't do anything with other guy when she has someone waiting for her. Charles. It's lonely, but he's worth it. She asks for the rest room, and goes upstairs. However, she takes the wrong room.

"Ugh, reeks of alcohol," she coughs and feels around with her hands for a switch.

Instead, someone grabs her wrists and pulls her.

"Hey!" Alice gasps.

"Mm...oh, it's you..." someone breathes on her face. Alice squints, trying to figure out who that is in the dark, but it's vain. Alice groans in pain when the guy drops her on a bed.

"Wh-What are you doing!?" she whimpers.

"What do you think...?" he drowsily chuckles. "Don't act so innocent as if you don't know..."

She can feel a tongue running down her neck, and hands grabbing and pulling around her body. Alice writhes, struggles in vain. She tries to scream, but whatever sound her mouth tried to make, his lips covered and eat it up.

Alice almost lost it when she can feel fingers trying to pry up her skirt and pull down her undies.

"No...No...!" she cries.

Suddenly, the guy pulls away. Alice hears someone coming from downstairs. He quickly gets off her and exits the room. Alice frantically fixes herself and wipes her tears. She escapes the room, shivering in fright and out of the party hall.

Alice shivers, and hears the party is raising up with noise from the hall, and she screams, crying in frustration. No one can hear her, and she's grateful for the party. Alice drops herself on the ground, hugging her arms and sobs.

"No," she shakes her head. "No, no..."

"You look terrible," Alice looks up to see Blood frowning at her. He walks up to her and hands her a handkerchief. She stares at it, and then at him.

He thinks she's going to take his handkerchief, but instead, she pulls him and cries into his shirt.

~.X.~

Blood beats himself whenever he remembers that. He can't believe he tried to rape Alice when they were just sixteen. He hates it when she always talk of being with someone else...it makes him want to move faster.

It's dangerous for him to move faster. He has to move slowly.

"Blood, you did really well! Those designs were marvelous," some people he doesn't care, praise him as they enter the bathroom.

"Yeah," Blood said with a confident smirk. He pulled out his cellphone, and instead of going to the phonebook, he typed the numbers. He always did that. "Excuse me, I need to talk with someone,"

"Sure, Blood. Make sure you spare sometime for us to chat, boy,"

Blood rushes out of the restroom and leans to the window. He pulls out some cigarettes, putting one between his lips and clicks his match to burn the stress-reliever. As he inhales and nicotine is absorbed, Blood can feel himself stop feeling on edge. The other side finally picks up.

"Alice?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you on a date now?"

Blood inhales and exhales, taking the cigarette off his mouth, letting the heat burns and the smoke flies.

"...No." Alice says after a bit of silence. "I remember that I have something else to do," she sighs. "Are you smoking, right now?"

Blood pauses in hesitation, something he rarely sees. "...Yeah." He looks up at the moon. "What do you have to do?"

Another pause.

"Hey, close your eyes, Blood?" Alice asks, and he gladly does so. She knows that he's really on edge when he smokes, and closing his eyes helps a lot. He sighs in relief. However, her orders don't stop there.

"What do you see with your eyes closed?"

Blood hums and inhales his smoke again. He breathed it out before speaking.

"The skyline, through the window," he doesn't understand why. Why he said it. "The moon above you, and the streets below,"

He opens his eyes again, and he was actually not imagining it. Alice is down there, with her phone on her ear, smiling wryly. He shoves his phone into his pocket and begins to run down the stairs.

~.X.~

Charles said sorry. Charles married Lorina. Lorina was the nurse.

Alice doesn't even know what to feel. She knows that Charles married Lorina out of obligation. Should she feel happy? She knows that Lorina is always the first choice. Should she feel sad? Alice drops her head on the grassy ground.

"I don't care anymore," she sighs. Blood stares down at her and then sits beside her. "I guess since Charles doesn't need me to be the nurse, then I should find something else to do,"

"You can still be a nurse, you know," Blood chuckles.

Alice looks up at him for a while, in silence.

"I'm sick of being Lorina's shadow," she grunts and sits up. "Everyone says that whatever I do, can make me be Lorina. How crazy is that?" she scoffs, and takes out a paper.

Blood notices that it's an application for the nurse school. Alice crumples it into a ball and throws it away.

"Fuck that shit," she sighs and drops herself again. "Fuck everyone. Fuck everything,"

The teen listens at how she keeps cursing, and he laughs.

"And you? Still being a pharmacist?"

"My dad beat me last night," Blood sighs, and pulls out a sketchpaper. There, he drew a design of a dress. "I decided that it'd be boring, so I thought I'll try something else. Turns out, I don't even get to choose, so, lucky you," he chuckles in irony.

Alice snatches the paper and scans his design. She sits up again, eyes wide.

"Fuck Mr. Dodgson," she says, and glares at Blood with an angry scowl. "Blood, you gotta be a designer!"

Blood falls silent when she pulls his collar. "You have to be a designer. You got to be. This is amazing, you know?" she waves his design excitedly. "It's something I've never seen, but it's not out of place—it' fresh,"

"You need to work a bit on the coloring, but you're definitely going to be big," Alice says and stares at his sketch, as if it's such a precious treasure.

Blood stares at her, surprised and has nothing to say. Alice smiles at her encouragingly.

"If you want to chase this path, I'd follow you anywhere, Blood," she says with a gleam in her eyes as she stares at his design. "If I continue and take the nurse school...then I'll just be chasing Lorina's shadow again..." she looks at him with determination.

"But if I follow you...I wonder if I can find myself?"

Blood chuckles. "You want to follow me?" he laughs and stands up, then offers his hand. "Then...the first thing to do; don't let my father beats me to death,"

Alice and Blood grins at each other as she takes his hand. The two runs to the Dodgson's Manor. If they're not allowed to be themselves...then at least they found someone who can accepts their true selves.

Blood smiles gently at the hand he's holding. The hand that accepts him and decides to follow him.

For the first time, he's not being lead. He's leading. And he's not leaving Alice behind. All this time, Alice had just been taking a different path than his.

As the two argues with his parents, Blood keeps holding her hand. Even though the world is against them, then all they have to do is ignore them. It's alright as long they have each other.

But Alice never sees him more than that. More than the person who gives her a new path. She avoids any romantic approaches. It's as if she knows that he's the one who almost did her.

It's driving him crazy. He's so close, right beside her, and yet, he doesn't have the slightest courage to touch her.

What if she runs away?

The only resort is other women.

Whenever he's with other women, he can only imagine her. If he didn't do that...he'd be insane. He'd probably try to attack Alice again. And she'll run.

But now it's impossible to hold back. Imagining isn't enough.

~.X.~

Alice watches Blood walking out of the convention building, out of breath. She notices his hand throwing away his cigarette, knowing that she hates smokes. Sighing, she gives him a small smile.

"You okay? I heard it went well," she asks in concern.

Blood suddenly takes her hand. "Walk with me," he says and begins to pull her, gently. "Come and walk with me," he says breathily.

Alice doesn't answer and just follows him.

Blood understands that she will always follow him. Not out of love, though. It's because he's her leader. He gives her a new path. A new life, away from Lorina. That's all Blood means to Alice. And it's suffocating him.

Not because he looks so much like Charles.

Not because Alice is still in love with Charles nor anyone else.

Simply because she doesn't see him more than a leader.

And there's him, a hormonal man who's too afraid to make a move. Whatever moves he made, she disregards as his personality. He wants to tell her right on her face, but he wonders if she'll leave and find a new path instead.

"Hey," Alice suddenly says. "Remember when you first came to the country-side?" she has an amused smile on her face.

"Yeah," Blood chuckles. "Charles and I were so shocked to see the country roads...and the fields behind your yard...and horses...I thought no one would've a horse in this day and time,"

"And yet, Charles and Lorina still have them," Alice chuckles as well. "You learned to ride the horse so fast,"

"Yeah, but you taught me," Blood shrugs. "Everything in the country-side used to be so exciting...until I mastered everything," he smirks confidently.

Alice smacks his back. "Arrogant bastard," she scoffs. "I still remember your face when you first see the tea garden,"

Blood blurts out a laugh, and he slightly blushes. "Heh...that...I wish I can go back there," he smirks again. "But my father wouldn't want to see my face anymore,"

"Yeah. And I'm disposed for following you," Alice says with a calm smile. "But I don't regret anything. I'm happy to be this way,"

Blood glances at her with a gentle look. He can't hold it anymore. They stop at the crowded street, and he squeezes her hand. She looks up to him faithfully, and he feels losing it.

"I'm tired," he says. "My hotel is across this street. You're staying?" he asks, not loosening his grip.

"Oh, I'm—"

"Stay with me," Blood says in an ordering tone. Alice looks up to see him looking down, that she can't see his face beneath his bangs. "Tonight...don't leave me alone, Alice,"

She blinks once, and then sighs. "Sure. I'll call Lorie and tell her I'm not going back, then," she pulls out her phone and begins to call her sister. Alice glances at their hands. It's normal.

There are many things Blood's done to her. Hugging, holding hands, sleeping in the same bed, seeing him naked, washing his hair to putting on his clothes. He's such a handful bastard, but she knows she'll never leave him alone.

~.X.~

In his room, Alice begins to brew some tea, while Blood lazily drops his coat on the floor and unbuttons his shirt, feeling that everything is trying to suffocate him. He pushes open the windows, and looks over his shoulder to see her serving tea on the bed.

"You're being unusually nostalgic today, Blood," Alice says, sipping her tea as he takes a seat on the bed and takes his cup. "You smoked, and called me out of nothing...Something wrong?"

Blood chuckles. "Heheh...so many things," he says and sips his tea. The two finishes their tea in silence. Still in bliss at the calming effect, Alice sighs while Blood drops his head on the pillow.

"What are those things?" Alice cracks the silence again.

Blood doesn't answer. Instead, he pulls her by the hand so that she falls lying beside him.

"I..." he shivers and holds her shoulders. "I almost...hurt you when we were—"

"I know that," Alice clamps his mouth with her hand. "I knew it was you. I recognized your shirt and pants,"

Blood's expression hardened into an unreadable mask. "Then...why did you push me away?"

Alice frowns and glances away. "The question is...why did you do that? You know that Charles was—"

"And he didn't," Blood cuts her off, and Alice looks really, really sad. "He's an idiot..." she didn't say anything, and he licks his lips, eyes on hers. "I did that, because...If I did, I thought you would look away from him,"

Alice bites her lower lip, shivering in fright. "What are you going to do now...? You'd do that to all girls...?"

Blood squeezes her shoulders, shaking his head, smirking. "I saw you stood by, broken-hearted by Charles' idiot decisions...but I'm not going to be the one who let you go, Alice," he kisses her forehead. "Unless you don't want me..."

Alice gulps. "But...those girls..." she closes her eyes when he trails his lips down her cheek. "I don't want to be like them!" he begins to push him off. She's about to get off the bed when he grabs her hand.

"Don't run away," Blood orders. She keeps pulling her hand away. "The only reason I'm with other girls, is because I don't want to go through that—I don't want to force myself on you like that time, Alice,"

"Then, what are you doing right now?"

"If you don't want me, I'll let you go," Blood finally says this, and she can feel his grip is trembling around her wrist.

Alice looks down.

It's not that she's still in love with Charles. But it's hard for her to love—it's frightening. She doesn't know how it will end. Love is frighteningly pleasant, yet it can be frighteningly painful. It's really frightening to love again, when the only love she knew just walked away.

Blood pulls her back to him and hugs her waist. "If it's something that you want, beautiful, you don't have to go..." he breathes into her abdomen that's covered with wool. "Just stay with me, Alice,"

Alice sobs. "But...what if...? What if you—" she wipes her face. "I'm fine just following you...but what if you...walk away like Charles? I won't know where else to go..."

Blood growls and pulls her so hard that she falls into his arms. He strokes her head gently and feels her above him, his other hand wraps her waist in a strong embrace.

"I'm not sure how this is going to be," he says gently. "I've been trying to catch you slowly...otherwise I'll scare you away. But it doesn't work," he plays with her hair. "I'm a designer now, it's all for you. You're the one who made this path, so...you have to go through it, Alice,"

Alice pulls away from him gently. She never knows that Blood is waiting for her to move. And she moves really slowly. And it's killing him. Blood looks at her as if he can just breathe her in. Alice licks her lips and closes her eyes as her head leans in.

None of them are sure how this is going to be. Alice, unsure of the love itself. Blood, unsure if he's what she wants. If only he didn't make that mistake, then he could've been more confident. The dark blonde shuts her eyes. Her fingers wrap around Blood's chin, and he can't want her more than this.

If she's afraid of love, then she's still not moved on from Lorina's shadow.

Alice plants this into her mind as she kisses him slowly.

~.X.~

Alice thought Blood might only wanted her for a sex buddy or something. She was either happy or irritated by the fact that he's not. She's currently experiencing a really passionate lover for the first time.

"Blood, it's six, and you're still half-way done for the winter designs," Alice wakes up widely, glaring at the clock across his room...their room. "And you have an interview...in an hour. WAKE UP!" she frantically tries to struggle out of his embrace, but he groans and pulls her closer.

"No...I'm too lazy for this..." he mumbles and breathes in her hair.

"Blood! I'm not letting you slack around!"

He grunts and sits up, then looks at his life-long assistant. Alice flinches when she notices that smirk grows on his face. Blood chuckles, crawls and hovers over her, and she tries her best to cover herself with the blanket.

"Alice, you look really beautiful,"

"Blood, get off the bed,"

"I'm waking up after I do you once more, then~"

"Aargh, creep...If you do that, then I won't be able to walk!"

"But last night you fell asleep so fast, I didn't get enough..."

"Well it's really tiring since you asked me every night!"

Blood stops nuzzling her neck, smirking. His eyebrows raised. "Then, why don't you refuse?"

Alice puffs her cheeks and glances away. "I...I don't want you calling other girls...so..." she regrets saying it.

He laughs and hugs her. "I don't want anyone else, I have you now," he inhales her mild scent of coffee. "I only called them so that I don't..."

"Then I can refuse," Alice says gladly and slides away from him, dragging their blanket along. She points at Blood sharply. "You have one hour, Blood!"

Blood sighs and drops himself to the bed again. "Hmm...I shouldn't have said that. Then, I'm not going out of the bed until I get another round,"

Alice groans. Getting him off the bed had been her daily duties, but now she has to give additional services to the pompous bastard. Even though this is the first time she has such a passionate lover, she doesn't want to compare, and believes that he's the most passionate one that it gets irritating. Alice sighs, but smiles wryly as she gets onto the bed and watches his smile grows, slowly. It was a slow pace, but at the least, and finally, they found their way and pace.

* * *

**I don't know. I just think that this song reminds me so much of Blood and Alice, so I want to write about them.**

**The references for this fanfic:**

Song: Kiss Me Slowly by Parachute  
The history of when Lewis Carroll told his Alice's Adventures in Wonderland on a boat to the Liddells Sisters  
Barakamon  
Alice's personality is influenced by Gilbert Nightray of Pandora Hearts  
Blood's playboy attitude influenced by Vincent Nightray of Pandora Hearts  
The rest of the personality are solely based off the original characterization  
Charles Dodgson is Lewis Carroll, his affair with Alice is based off his lost diaries

**Kindly review if you have the time.**


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